Make Sure to Timely Renew Your Trademark Registration

You have successfully registered your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The registration is for ten (10) years. Trademark registration is an important protection for the words, names, slogans, and symbols you use to identify your products and services in commerce. The trademark has become closely identified with your products and services and has become valuable to you. Trademarks constitute your “brand” and “reputation” and can accumulate substantial monetary value depending upon the success of your products and services. So, you want to make sure that you take the steps necessary to protect your trademark.

First, you must continue to use your trademark in commerce. Second, you must defend against those you infringe upon your trademark. Also, between the fifth and sixth years from the date of your trademark registration, you need to act with the USPTO to protect your trademark. You need to file with the USPTO a signed declaration stating that you are continuing to use your trademark with the goods and services in your registration. You will also need to submit one specimen for each class of goods or services along with your signed declaration. This filing is essentially your first trademark “renewal.”

After you file the Section 8 Declaration of Continued Use at the five-year mark, the next filing will be due between the 9th and 10th year of your registration date. At this point, you must file a formal renewal with proof, again, that you are still using your trademark in commerce. Once this is filed, the trademark will be good for another 10 years before another renewal is due.

If you fail to file timely and properly file your five-year and ten-year renewals, the USPTO will cancel your registration and you will lose the benefits of federal registration. So, you are well-advised to take the steps necessary to timely and properly renew your trademark registration.

If you have any questions or concerns about trademarks, please do not hesitate to contact Scaringi Law at 717-657-7770.